Hey everyone,
As of last week, I have officially lost over 100 lbs since I had weight loss surgery! Technically, if you count the special diet before surgery, I have lost a total of 115 lbs. Anyways, I have noticed something over the past couple months. I see that the number on the scale is going down, my clothes are really lose on me, etc., but for some reason, my mind refuses to believe that I am losing weight or anything like that. It is like I still have the mindset of an obese person. It is almost like my mind refuses to believe that I am losing weight or my mind hasn't made the connection between the weight loss, lose fitting clothes, etc. Maybe it has something to do with all those times I have lost weight and gained it all back plus some more weight. I guess my mind still automatically thinks that I am going to gain the weight right back. Maybe in the back of my mind, I am still afraid that I am going to gain all the weight back again.
Has anyone ever experienced something like this?

That shirt is so funny!!
I was constipated for almost 2 weeks to 1 month after surgery. I don't think I actually pooped until I added pureed food to my diet. Now after being almost 6 months since I had surgery, I go 1 to 2 times a day or once every other day. However, if I eat anything really high in carbs, fats, and sugars, I am in the bathroom 15 to 30 minutes after that meal.
Anyways, to CelticGirl, I like everyone else's suggestions by taking a stool softener or eating prunes or drinking prune juice may help with your constipation issue.

Hey everyone,
I have noticed that since I had weight loss surgery, I have had problems sleeping. Before surgery, I had problems sleeping and would use either ZzzQuil or Melatonin pills (obviously, I don't use them together). However, after I had weight loss surgery, it seems like my sleeping troubles got worse. I think maybe since I am losing a lot of weight in such a short amount time, my hormones are probably out of wack and is causing my sleeping problems.
I have a post op appointment today and I may ask the doctor about this among a whole list of other things I want to ask them. I had blood work done back in June as I had to get some blood work done between the last post op appointment that happened in April and today's post op appointment.
Anyways, has anyone had problems sleeping after they had weight loss surgery? If so, were you given medication or were you told to wait a while and see if the sleeping troubles went away?

Sometime after 5:30 am, but before 6:00 am yesterday, I woke up in bed with the most severe sharp stabbing pain in my abdominal area. It was probably one of the worst pains I have ever experienced. It felt like someone took a knife and stabbed me in the abdominal area. I normally sleep on my right side, so I tried switching sides and seeing if laying on my left side would make the pain go away, but it did not make any difference whatsoever. A few minutes went by and I had to go to the bathroom to take a poop. So, after that was done, I kind of felt better, but the pain was still there. When I got back in my bed, I started to pass gas and the pain started to go away.
Has anyone else experienced a pain like this? I know I probably should have called the doctor and talked about this, but the pain went away. I thought what would be the point to call about something that is no longer a problem?
My guess would have to be either it was pain associated with gas being trapped.

On the bottle, it says to take 3 iron a day. So, I just follow the instructions on the bottle.
I usually take a multivitamin and an iron in the morning, another iron and multivitamin and my vitamins D3 and biotin at lunch, all four calcium vitamins at dinner. The doxycycline is usually taken 2 hours after taking the calcium or multivitamin. So, for example, if I take my pills at 8 am, I usually wait until 10 am to take a doxycycline. For dinner, if I take the calcium at 5 pm, I usually take the doxycycline at 7 pm. My Adderall is usually taken at breakfast and lunch time.

So, as the title says, 4 months after weight loss surgery, my hair is falling out. I thought I would be one of the few individuals whose hair would not fall out, but alas, that is not the case. I know people lose about a 100 strands of hair a day, but what I am experiencing is not that. It is probably 2 or 3 times the normal amount. When I take a shower, it is probably 3 or 4 times the normal amount. I have had to clean the shower drain a lot more than usual because the water would not drain right because of the hair that would collect in the shower drain.
I was made aware that I was going to lose hair, but I expected it to be a month or two after surgery, not 4 months after surgery. I am curious as to why people lose hair after surgery. It is not just weight loss surgery patients that lose hair; it is everyone that has had any type of major surgery. The people I know who have had major surgery in the past have made the comment that they lost some hair a month after surgery.
I guess my questions are the following:
Why am I losing hair? Is it because of my body not getting enough nutrients? Is it because of my body going through such a major type of surgery that it is still trying to work through that type of "stress"?
Why did I lose hair 4 months after surgery instead of the usual month or two?
My doctor warned me that it was normal for hair loss after surgery, but I guess it caught me by surprise as I thought I was able to avoid that part. I usually have thick straight, brown hair, but now, my hair is not as thick as it was two or three weeks ago as the hair loss started about a week or two ago.

The medications I take everyday are the following:
chewable Bariactiv multivitamin (twice a day)
chewable Bariactiv Calcium (four times a day)
chewable Bariactiv Iron with Vitamin C (three times a day)
Nascobal Vitamin B-12 Nasal Spray (once a week)
Vitamin D3 (Once a day)
Biotin (Once a day)
Adderall (Twice a day)
Doxycycline for Acne (twice a day)
I have never had blood pressure problems before surgery. I had no health problems whatsoever before surgery.
I am pretty much "healthiest obese person" you will ever meet. The only times my blood pressure gets high is when I take my Adderall or Doxycycline, but my doctors have told me that a slight raise in blood pressure is a normal side effect of both medications and since I have never had blood pressure problems, they are not too concern about that. However, I have a family history of heart problems (everything from high blood pressure to heart attacks), thyroid problems (my mom's mom, her two brothers, and her sister have thyroid problems, but my mom does not have thyroid problems; my mom has high blood pressure and takes a bunch of vitamins since she had weight loss surgery done in February of 2016), and diabetes (my dad's dad has type II diabetes). I have no thyroid problems and every time I get bloodwork done, because of there being a family history of thyroid problems they check that and everything is normal on that. I do not have diabetes or high blood pressure.
Anyways, I appreciate everyone who has posted a response. Another thing I noticed is that I get the same symptoms whenever I take a really hot shower. I am leaning more towards it being orthostatic hypotension/postural hypotension. I have heard of the stomping the feet thing as my grandfather (my mom's dad has issues that require him to sit on the edge of his bed and stomp his feet).

Hey everyone,
Ever since I had surgery, I have noticed that there would be times where my vision would fade in and out or my vision would go black, I would get dizzy and lightheaded (my head would feel like it was floating in air, my ears would get full and my hearing is muffled), and I would start to feel woozy and all of those things only would happen when I stand up after sitting. When I get up out of my chair too quickly, I would experience those symptoms for probably no more than 10-30 seconds. Sometimes, I would have to hold onto the wall until everything subsided and went away.
I am thinking I am experiencing these symptoms because of a deficiency of some kind, not eating enough, my blood sugar being too low, low blood pressure, etc. The next time I see the doctor for a post op appointment is July 19th. My doctor also wants me to get bloodwork done before I see them and I am getting my bloodwork done on June 27th. The reason they want me to get bloodwork done is to check and make sure I am not deficient in anything.
Has anyone ever experienced these symptoms before? If so, what was the cause and how did you deal with it?

Hey everyone,
Before I continue, I want to make a few things clear, which are I have never been on a date before, I have never been in a relationship before, and I have never kissed a guy before (meaning I haven't even had my first kiss yet) or had sex yet. So, I'm pretty much a virgin and I'm ok with that. I'm focusing on graduate school and my career right now and I don't have the time to be in a relationship right now, but that doesn't mean I'm completely closed off to the idea. If I meet a guy tomorrow and we start dating in a couple months, I would be open to the idea. If it is meant to be and happen, then I am not going to stop it from happening.
Anyways, when I do start dating, when would be the best time to tell a date that I had weight loss surgery? How would I work that topic into a conversation? On one hand, I want to be honest, but on the other hand, I don't want to get hurt and embarrassed in public.

I had the biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch bariatric surgery on February 22nd. This maybe TMI (too much information), but I had a couple of questions. Before I go any further, my surgeon explained the procedure and the effects and everything about it before the surgery. I am only asking these questions as it will help me feel better and will also tell me that I'm not alone in this.
My questions:
After surgery, did the color of bowel movements change?
Before surgery, my bowel movements were the normal brown color, but after surgery, there is still some brown, but my bowel movements are pretty much 99.9% gray/clay/yellow/orange color.
Did you find that bowel movements were "smellier" after surgery?
I am thinking that the bowel movement color could be caused by malabsorption since a big portion of the small intestine that is responsible for absorption is bypassed.

For those that have had the duodenal switch done, how much weight do you lose? Some of the research I did on this type of bariatric surgery have said that the average weight lost after 1 to 2 years after surgery is anywhere between 100-200 pounds. On the day I had surgery, I was 333.2 lbs and I am currently 293.8 lbs. My goal weight is 175 lbs.
For those that were roughly around the same weight I was, were you able to get under 200 lbs 1 to 2 years after surgery? If you were not around the same weight as me, were you still able to get under 200 lbs?

Hey everyone,
There is something that has been on my mind for awhile and I was wondering if there are any others that are thinking/wondering the same thing as well.
Ever since I had surgery, I have noticed that my thought process and the way I look at food has completely changed. For example, before surgery, I could eat two cups of spaghetti and meatballs without no problems and I would still be hungry afterwards. I would also, in this example, view that portion as small. Now after surgery (before I continue, I just want to make it clear that I have not had a bite of pasta in a couple months and I am just using pasta as an example), if I were to look at this same exact bowl that contains 2 cups of pasta, I would think that it is way too much and if I were to eat it, I would probably only be able to eat a quarter of it. What I am trying to say is that the way I looked at food now is drastically different. The amount of food I eat now would be considered a snack before surgery. Sometimes during dinner, I would look over at my dad's plate of food and I think that is way too much food. Before surgery and using this same scenario, I would think that isn't enough food.
I think it is crazy how our minds change after surgery. After surgery, I eat at most 4 to 6 oz of food at a time and I would take 30 minutes to eat and if I didn't finish, I would save the rest for later. Before surgery, those 4 to 6 oz of food would be gone in 5 to 10 minutes.
So, my question or questions for everyone is if their thought processes and/or their view of food has changed drastically.

One of the creams/ointments was to help prevent infection. Two of the ointments/creams was to help with dryness and irritation of the skin. Two of the creams/ointments was to help with pain and inflammation. So, out of the creams and ointments I was given, the only one that helped the most was the lidocaine cream/ointment; that helped numb the problem areas. Another one that helped was this one cream/ointment that was pretty much diaper rash cream and moisturizer in a bottle (I think it was called dimethicone protectant).
I don't know why I was given so much stuff. My surgeon goes through this 3rd party company that fills and mails your prescriptions to you and everything is covered by my parents insurance. Plus, it saves a ton of time for my parents as they don't have to run out to the pharmacy and have a lot of prescriptions filled and pay a lot of money. In the beginning, all of this sounded like a good idea and it is still a good idea. However, I found out today that my surgeon is no longer doing business with this company as a lot of people were having problems with these creams/ointments and having problems with other things as well (I don't think it was with the company itself).

I had my post op follow up appointment today. We did a lot of stuff during this appointment. I showed my surgeons' physician assistant my incisions/wounds and the physician assistant told me that all of the creams and ointments I was putting on could be irritating my wounds/incisions and causing them not to heal correctly/the right way. So, the physician assistant told me to stop using all of the ointments and creams all together and she gave me this silver nitrate antimicrobial gel to put on the wounds/incisions twice a day (once in the morning and once before I go to bed). I have never used any type of ointment/cream/gel that contains silver nitrate, but my parents and the physician assistant says that stuff really works, but I'll see what happens. The physician assistant also said that my skin is super sensitive right now. So, that could be a reason as to why my abdominal skin looks irritated in those areas right now.
It is possible for me to keep my stomach covered with a clean cloth. I kind of do that in a way now (I take pieces of paper towel and cover the wounds/incisions with those pieces; I use tape to keep the paper towel pieces in place).